Reduce your back pain by standing more

I have back pain. Now I have less back pain. You can, too. And it can be a simple and free improvement that takes only a two-minute rummage through your garage, which you've meant to go through anyway.
The fix: raise your workstation. Stand while you write and surf the web. Sit less. When you stand you tend to move around more, which keeps blood circulating and muscles moving.

My DIY solution is very basic, and temporary. I just propped up my laptop on a wire shelf and plastic tub. I plan to do a more substantial solution soon. But for now, my laptop is up high and I am standing while I work. Lifehacker has more and better ideas about how to do this, here.

Jeremy Allen

I study philosophy and social theory at the University of South Florida. I
am also a photographer, map lover and sometimes poet.

Eating my way from Birmingham to Memphis. A tale of two barbecues.

A beginner's beginning guide to specialty coffee

Specialty coffee is not a type, kind, or variety of coffee plant. To me, specialty coffee is a landscape of connected and interdependent people and processes that is focused on quality not quantity of the coffee experience. From farmers, their families, their seasonal workers, quality control processes, the wet and dry milling stations, storage, exporters, importers, commercial and home roasters, cafe owners, baristas, organizations such as SCAA, ACE, and WCR, trainers and educators, universities, sensory scientists, botanists and agronomists, sustainability initiatives, climate scientists, software coders and app developers, equipment and device manufacturers, private and public investors, supply chain and logistics experts, commodities traders, local and national governments, cultural innovators, and more.

When a drop of specialty coffee hits your tongue, you are tasting your connection to the fortunes and misfortunes of everyone in this landscape.